Programme Outlines

The aim of the programme is to provide professional counsellor education for competent and thoughtful practice as counsellors in a variety of human services, school, and health care settings or in other professional/occupational fields wherein counselling training is an asset. Upon completion of the programme, graduates will be able to:

apply knowledge and skills in counselling and become increasingly autonomous and independent in practice;

reflect on their counselling practice and discover, construct, articulate and evaluate personal philosophy and implicit theories of counselling;

pursue evidence-based practice through researching on practice to discover new practice-based knowledge and connect such knowledge to practice; and

practice in a creative manner to respond to cultural variations and diversity.

Entrance Requirements

To be eligible for admission, you must:

hold a degree of one of the universities in Hong Kong or of any overseas institution recognized for this purpose by the University; or

have obtained an equivalent qualification, or provide evidence of academic and professional attainments acceptable for this purpose by the University; and

have preferably two years' working experience in social service, education, health, human services, human resources or related areas.

Applicants whose entrance qualification is obtained from an institution where the medium of instruction is not English should also fulfill the following minimum English proficiency requirement:

Score 550 (paper-based test) or 59 (revised paper-delivered test) or 79 (Internet-based test) on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL); or

Overall band score of 6.5 in International English Language Testing System (IELTS); or

Score 450 in the new College English Test (CET-6) of Chinese mainland or a pass in the old CET-6 test; or

Other equivalent qualifications

Course Description

The programme is designed to provide postgraduate counsellor education covering:

core concepts, major theories, professional and ethical issues, and contemporary development in the field of counselling;

basic counselling skills and techniques, and major approaches to counselling;

personal qualities and professional requirements of a counsellor;

research skills, and the integration of scientific research and counselling practice; and

reflexivity and cultural sensitivity in counselling.

Students may choose to exit the programme at the following levels of award:

Postgraduate Certificate in Counselling (PGCC)

Postgraduate Diploma in Counselling (PGDC)

Master of Social Sciences in Counselling (MSSC)

The PGCC award: Complete 12 credit units with credit transfer (if approved) up to a maximum of 3 credit units.

The PGDC award: Complete 24 credit units with credit transfer (if approved) up to a maximum of 6 credit units.

The MSSC award: Complete 30 credit units with credit transfer (if approved) up to a maximum of 9 credit units.

Programme curriculum is made up of (a) core courses; and (b) elective courses forming a “general electives” group, a “research method” group and an elective group on specialized areas.

To graduate with the MSSC award, students must complete either the Counselling Practicum or the Project (both are two-semester courses) before the completion of the study.

1: Full-time students have to take SS6805 Project in Semester B and Summer Term at their first year of study, while part-time students may opt for SS6805 Project or SS6806 Counselling Practicum which is a two-semester mode and carries 3 credits each for Semester A & B of their second year of study.

2: Students opting for SS6805 Project should have taken at least 12 credits prior to taking the course and currently enrolling SS5302 as a co-requisite.

3: Students should have taken at least 18 credits including SS5800, SS5802 and SS5841, prior to undertaking SS6806 Counselling Practicum.

4: Full time students cannot take SS6806 Counselling Practicum but SS6805 Project during their whole study period, they are eligible to apply for the full member at HKPCA after graduation, but could not pursue the status of Certified Counsellor at HKPCA.

Bonus Features

Professional Qualification

The Hong Kong Professional Counselling Association (HKPCA) issued a confirmation letter of programme accreditation on 1st December 2011 certifying that graduates admitted to the MSSC programme in 2004 or after meet the following requirement to acquire the full membership status:

The programme is at Master level.

The total number of contact hours in the academic programme aggregates to 320 hours.

For graduates who have completed either SS6805 Project or SS6806 Counselling Practicum.

For graduates taking the SS6806 Counselling Practicum, a total of 120 hours of client contact hours is accumulated in the programme. They could pursue the professional certification, ‘HKPCA Certified Counsellor’ after fulfilling the required post-master supervised practice.

A post-master training to facilitate the acquisition of ‘HKPCA Certified Counsellor’ status for MSSC graduates is currently under preparation.

Remarks: * MSSC applicants are required to choose the study mode before starting the programme. The study mode cannot be changed throughout the study period.

* The programme operates in a combined mode of study. Part-time students have a choice to take either the counselling practicum or the (research) project earliest in the second year of study, after completing pre-requisite courses and a threshold number of credit units in the first year. Full-time students must take the (research) project earliest in the second semester through summer.

† Combined mode: Local students taking programmes in combined mode can attend full-time (12-18 credit units per semester) or part-time (no more than 11 credit units per semester) study in different semesters without seeking approval from the University. For non-local students, they will be admitted to these programmes for either full-time or part-time studies. Non-local students must maintain the required credit load for their full-time or part-time studies and any changes will require approval from the University.